Dillon Hogan/ Winonan
Over the course of spring break the Winona State University women’s tennis team headed to Florida to take on a diverse slate of opponents. The Warriors traveled to Florida to play four games over the course of three days.
Beginning on Sunday, March 8 in Orlando, Fla. and concluding two days later in Kissimmee, Fla. the Warrior tennis team won one matchup and lost the other three.
The first match against Seton Hill resulted in a loss for Winona State, 8-1.
The top spot in the number one singles match saw Brianna Havelka facing Isidora Knezevic. A 6-0, 6-3 score gave Knezevic the win over Havelka. In the second singles spot Sara Ruiz took down Justine Daane by scores of 6-3 and 6-1. Megan Hudak defeated Katie Scruggs 6-2 and 6-0 in the third singles spot to give Seton Hill a 3-0 advantage in the singles section.
The fourth spot saw Paula Carvajalino defeat Ellyn Grossen, 6-3 and 6-3. The fifth singles match was where the Warriors secured their only victory of the day when Lauren Willkom won against Chelsea Pence 6-3 and 6-3.
The sixth singles match was not played and was a Seton Hill win by default. The first doubles matchup had Warriors Justine Daane and Brianna Havelka pairing off against Isidora Knezevic and Sara Ruiz of Seton Hill.
Daane and Havelka were taken down by Knezevic and Ruiz by a score of 8-5 to give Seton Hill the early match lead.
The next doubles matchup had Warriors Katie Scruggs and Ellyn Grossen taking on Megan Hudak and Paula Carvajalino.
Not as close as the first doubles matchup, this pairing saw Seton Hill take the match 8-1 to secure the doubles portion of the match. A potential third matchup in the doubles was given to Seton Hill by default.
The next day the Warriors played two more opponents in Kissimmee, Fla., the Warriors faced Kentucky Wesleyan College and McMurry University.
Against Kentucky Wesleyan the Warriors earned their only match victory of the trip, 7-0. Both of the Warrior’s doubles teams won their matchups with 8-1 scores.
The team of Daane and Havelka in the number one spot beat Danielle Handler and Krislyn Hudson of Wesleyan, with Scruggs and Willkom in the second spot taking down Haley Kauffman and Kaite Laughlin.
All five singles matches went in the favor of the Warriors against the Panthers. Havelka, Justine Dean, Scruggs, Grossen and Willkom all came away with victories.
Against McMurry University the Warriors were unable to achieve the same amount of success. Falling by a score of 9-0 to the War Hawks, Winona State was not able to win a set. The Warriors lost all six of their singles matches and all three of their doubles matches.
The conclusion to the Florida trip saw the Warriors drop another match, this time against Haverford College.
The Warriors suffered a loss 8-1 in the match against Haverford. Similar to the match against McMurry, all six of the Warrior attempts in singles resulted in losses for Winona State.
The lone win for the Warriors came courtesy of the doubles team of Havelka and Daane who took the 8-3 win at the number one doubles spot. Havelka and Daane took the victory over Caitlin Gallagher and Robyn Himelstein.
Winona State returned with a season record of 6-5 as it resumed NSIC competition at home on Friday against Upper Iowa University.
The Warriors fell to the Peacocks by the same score as their final match in Florida, 8-1. Scruggs was the only Warrior to secure a win, after coming back from a loss in the first set 6-0. She posted a win in the second set 7-5 and came out on top in the third set tiebreaker 11-9.
Winona State, now posting an even season overall 6-6, will continue home play Friday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 4 p.m. against University of Sioux Falls and Augustana College respectively.
